Christ’s Church has produced content and come alongside authors to create experiences that cover a range of topics and books of the Bible. We invite you to explore our growing library and encourage you to use and share any of the material below.
Is it possible to think deeply about the faith and experience it personally at the same time? Maps are important for finding our way through difficult and confusing terrain without losing ground and losing our way. As important as maps are, they also invite us to experience what has been laid out. Author Amy Gannett invites us to reassess the why behind our study of God so that we can know him deeply, enjoy him fully and worship him in truth. For over forty years, the community of Good Works, Inc., has shared life with its neighbors in rural southeastern Ohio, a region with high poverty rates and remarkably resilient people. Offering friendship to those without a support network and shelter, care, and community to people without homes, those involved with Good Works have made it their mission to embody the gospel in innovative ways. What insights can be gleaned from Good Works, and how might these lessons be applied to our own communities and churches? Author, pastor, and professor A. J. Swoboda has witnessed many young people wrestle with their core Christian beliefs. Too often, what begins as a set of critical and important questions turns to resentment and faith abandonment. Drawing on his own experience of deconstruction, Swoboda offers tools to help emerging adults navigate their faith in a hostile landscape. Doubt is a part of our natural spiritual journey, says Swoboda, and deconstruction is a legitimate space to encounter the living God. “Who am I becoming?” That was the question nagging pastor and author John Mark Comer. Outwardly, he appeared successful. But inwardly, things weren’t pretty. So he turned to a trusted mentor for guidance and heard these words: “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life.” It wasn’t the response he expected, but it was—and continues to be—the answer he needs. Can we really eliminate hurry in a time when life seems to demand more and there doesn’t seem to be any margin? Join us as we explore how we can eliminate hurry and experience life as it was meant to be. When the world struggles through so much darkness, chaos and calamity, it’s sometimes hard to see a way out. How do we make sense of a loving God in such difficult times? What are we supposed to do with pain when it seems like it never goes away? Can we experience purpose, meaning and even a little hope when so much has gone awry? We live in a racially divided nation. And that divide has only increased the tension between US vs. THEM. Is there a positive way we can speak into the race issue without adding to the turmoil? Is there a way we can bridge the gap between people who disagree? Hear from Pastor Miles McPherson, author of The Third Option, and Pastor John on how we might pave the way for unity and healing in these challenging times. And pick up Pastor Miles’s book today.
God might be inviting us to know his peace when everything appears to be falling apart. You see, God brings order out of chaos. And by creating you in his image, he has commissioned you to do the same thing. Could it be possible that God created you for a moment just like this one? Two thousand years ago, an itinerant preacher climbed to the top of a hill and hundreds of people followed him to hear what would become the most famous speech ever written. The natural acoustics carried his voice to the masses as he talked about the possibility of experiencing a life of belonging, comfort, freedom, peace, recognition and transcendence. His listeners could not only have a taste of this kind of life- they could have everything that is good. And two thousand years later, we can have it too. But the way to get there may not be what you think.
We are all weighed down by invisible burdens of various kinds, but God has designed us to enjoy liberty from all of that as we travel through this life. In Traveling Light we dive into the book of Philippians and learn how to cast aside all kinds of religious, relational and personal baggage that slow us down and make our journeys more difficult to bear.
Sufferings of various kinds, conflicts, overconfidence, money and false wisdom threaten to capsize us. How can we navigate these turbulent seas and keep afloat without making a shipwreck of our faith? James the brother of Jesus gave some ancient wisdom to a group of Christians facing challenges that were not so unlike our own. He gave them a way to navigate these challenges and he is inviting us to follow him through. Throughout all of history, there has been no one quite like Jesus. He’s an enigma that continues to puzzle scholars, captivate the curious and invite those who are wondering to look at life a little differently. Join us as Pastor John invites us to consider five surprising features of this bold and wonderful Jesus who loved the world and invited it to think differently.
